Fidus Investment (NASDAQ:FDUS) Upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to Outperform Rating

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Fidus Investment (NASDAQ:FDUS) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has $21.50 price target on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on FDUS. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Fidus Investment to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. B. Riley downgraded Fidus Investment from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $22.50 in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fidus Investment in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $22.00.

Fidus Investment Stock Performance

Shares of FDUS opened at $20.37 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $720.69 million, a P/E ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 0.88. Fidus Investment has a 52 week low of $16.70 and a 52 week high of $23.55. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.30.

Fidus Investment (NASDAQ:FDUS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The asset manager reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. Fidus Investment had a net margin of 51.88% and a return on equity of 11.52%. The firm had revenue of $39.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.42 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fidus Investment will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Fidus Investment Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 18th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.2%. This is a positive change from Fidus Investment’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 18th. Fidus Investment’s payout ratio is 74.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fidus Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Fidus Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at $549,138,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Fidus Investment by 2.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 446,703 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,023,000 after acquiring an additional 9,637 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Fidus Investment by 10.4% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 370,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,481,000 after acquiring an additional 34,837 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fidus Investment by 10.8% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 359,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,260,000 after acquiring an additional 35,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fidus Investment by 12.1% in the second quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 322,543 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,515,000 after acquiring an additional 34,921 shares during the last quarter. 28.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fidus Investment Company Profile

Fidus Investment Corporation is a business development company. It specializing in leveraged buyouts, refinancings, change of ownership transactions, recapitalizations, strategic acquisitions, mezzanine, growth capital, business expansion, lower middle market investments, debt investments, subordinated and second lien loans, senior secured and unitranche debt, preferred equity, warrants, subordinated debt, senior subordinated notes, junior secured loans, and unitranche loans.